Members of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry walk past a MI-8 military helicopter and armored personnel carriers at a checkpoint near the town of Izium, eastern Ukraine, April 15, 2014. (Reuters / Dmitry Madorsky) / Reuters

The coup-imposed Ukrainian government has amassed military hardware near the eastern Ukrainian towns refusing to recognize Kiev’s rule, and rallying for the country’s federalization. Videos from the area show tanks, APCs and army helicopters.

Following the Tuesday announcement of an “anti-terrorist
operation” by the coup-imposed acting president Aleksandr
Turchinov, armored vehicles have been spotted moving and taking
positions kilometers away from the eastern Ukrainian city of
Slavyansk, where activists seized several administration
buildings with the assistance of armed self-defense volunteers.

While Slavyansk is in the Donetsk region, sightings of groups of
military vehicles have been reported in the neighboring Kharkov
and Lugansk regions, where pro-Russian and anti-Kiev sentiment is
high.

Residents of the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk on Wednesday
stopped a convoy of armored vehicles of the Ukrainian army
approaching the city, local channel Inter reported.

According to the report, at least six APCs and trucks with
howitzers were heading to Lugansk from Dnepropetrovsk. Residents
of Raygorodok village have reportedly blocked the convoy’s way
and placed cars alongside the road, preventing the convoy from
passing through.

Some 40 kilometers from Slavyansk in the Kharkov region town of
Izyum, hundreds of troops with armored vehicles, including tanks
and a helicopter, have been filmed by media and amateur
reporters.

The force is being described as a mix of army troops, Ukrainian
special forces and the so-called National Guard troops loyal to
Kiev, with some reports claiming armed radical Right Sector
members have also been transferred to the area. The unusual mix
is explained by the fact that Ukrainian army divisions have
previously refused to act on orders from Kiev to crack down on
eastern Ukrainian protesters.

Late on Monday, dozens of armed Ukrainian vehicles moving in the
direction of Slavyansk were filmed by locals in the Donetsk and
Lugansk regions. Near the town of Volodarsk, a massive force was
spotted on the move.

Locals opposing Kiev’s military operation have repeatedly tried
to block the movement of the military, in one instance halting a
tank in Rodninskoye town on Monday. The vehicle was manned by
young conscripts who eventually chose to shut down the engine and
negotiate with the people.

Kiev has ordered military vehicles transferred to Ukraine by
Russia from Crimea, to move to eastern Ukraine to cover up for
the lack of hardware, a source in the Ukrainian Defense Ministry
told RIA Novosti.